Beyond Dedicated

She wasn’t really a diver, though. Not then, anyway. She was simply a carefree youngster enjoying a gleeful, unfettered moment and performing some of the aerobatics she had learned since she began gymnastics lessons back when she was 2.

 

“I think it started out as a way for me to show off to my friends,” said Caroline, now a Collegiate School senior. “It was, ‘Hey, look at me. I can do all these cool flips while you’re over there doing pencil jumps.’ It’s really evolved into such a personal thing.”

 

And a team thing, as well. And a really, really good thing.

 

On that afternoon a decade ago, Kanawha’s dive-team practice was about to begin, and Loren Phillips, who assisted his mother Dougie as a coach, noticed Caroline in action.

 

“Who are you?” Caroline recalls him asking. “I’m Caroline,” she responded shyly.

 

“He said, ‘Why don’t you come out for the dive team?’” Caroline recounted. “So I stuck around for practice. Honestly, ever since that, I totally fell in love with not only the sport but the coaches because at Kanawha there’s an amazing staff.”

 

A decade later Caroline still dives for Kanawha, where this summer she will also serve as an assistant coach for the fourth year. As a competitor, she’s won more dual meet competitions than she can count. This past August, she placed first in the Senior X girls division in the James River Aquatic Club championship meet.

 

Representing Collegiate, she’s a three-time All-VISAA honoree. She won the state championship in 2016 and 2017 and placed third in 2018. She captured the League of Independent Schools title in ‘16 and ‘18 and finished third in ‘17. She holds the school records for six dives (222.24) as well as for 11 dives (421.60).

 

That’s not all. The past two winters, she’s also competed in track and has recorded personal bests of 7.72 in the 55, 50.13 in the 300, 1:35.49 in the 500, 4-4 in the high jump, and 16-3.25 in the long jump.

        

“I’ve had patellar tendonitis,” she explained. “Ever since I switched from just diving to track and diving, my knee problems have decreased significantly because it’s not the same repetitive movement every day. Having Monday, Wednesday, and Sunday nights at the pool and Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday on the track really helped. You use totally different muscles. Track helps with my endurance and speed. Diving helps my core and whole mental game.”

        

There’s more. In the fall, she played varsity volleyball as a junior and senior. And in the spring, she plays defensive midfield in lacrosse. As a junior, she earned All-LIS honors. A team captain this year, she has committed to play for Washington & Lee.

 

“Caroline is an all-around athlete,” said Diane Maiese, the Cougars’ diving coach. “She’s go-go-go-go-go. Her work ethic…you can’t find that even in some pro athletes. She’s beyond dedicated to everything she does, inside and outside of sports.”

 

Three years ago, Maiese, a four-time All-American diver at The College of New Jersey, succeeded Dougie Phillips, the only coach Caroline had ever had at Kanawha or Collegiate.

 

The transition wasn’t without challenges.

 

“At first,” Caroline acknowledged, “I was really hesitant. I was like, ‘Who is this lady correcting all my dives?’ But over time she changed my diving so much and perfected every single thing I was doing.”

 

Case in point…

 

“I’d been battling with another girl all year,” Caroline said. “When we got to the state meet, we were neck and neck. Finally, she did her last dive. I was 30-some points behind and had one dive left – a back 1 somersault straight. I had to stick it for 8’s to beat her. I got up there, did my last dive, and the score flashes up.”

 

Caroline, indeed, had earned all 8’s. She won the state title by a miniscule .01.

 

“That’s as close as you can get,” she said. “That’s when I knew that Diane and the coaching staff and the team in general had elevated my game.”

 

Caroline shares that story simply to make a point. As competitive as she is, her fulfillment comes less from awards and recognition than from the very factors that drew her to the sport 10 years ago and have made her journey so meaningful.

 

“At Collegiate and at my rec pool, it’s such a close community,” she said. “Diving is an individual sport, but it’s never really felt like that.   We’re each other’s best friends and biggest supporters.”

 

That said, she learned long ago that once she steps onto the board, the attention is solely on her. Pressure can be intense. Staying in the moment, remaining calm and poised, and focusing on the immediate task are paramount.

 

“I’m a very superstitious person,” Caroline said. “I’ve had the same pink chamois (‘shammy’ in diving lingo) ever since I was 8 years old. After my first practice, my dad and I went to Walmart and got it. It’s completely ragged and split down the middle. There’re tiny, thin threads holding it together. Whenever I get stressed, I squeeze water out of it over and over, dry myself off. I’m completely obsessive with it.

I have the same routine of stretching before every meet. And before I do every dive, I say the same thing to myself: ‘I can do all things in Christ, who strengthens me. 1, 2, 3, ready, set, and go.’”

 

Finally…

 

“The thing about diving,” she said, “is that you have to trust yourself and what your coaches and teammates are telling you. You have to turn your mind off and totally let your body knows how to do. When you complete a dive once, it’s so much easier to do it again, but getting that dive off the board for the first time is tremendously hard. It’s something I won’t miss…but it’s amazing when you do it.”

  -- Weldon Bradshaw